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Residents protest Port Franks cell tower

The tower may be up, but Port Franks residents hope they'll be able to stop it from being turned on.

About 20 people from Grand Bend and Port Franks staged a protest in the north Lambton Shores community Saturday, carrying signs against a newly constructed Bell Mobility telecom tower.

Participants marched to near the base of the tower, completed March 11, on privately-owned land.

The radio frequency electromagnetic radiation emitted from cell towers affects people who are sensitive to it — and may have ecological impacts as well, said Laureen Maurizio, protest organizer with the Lakeshore Coalition.

“We have a number of near extinct species that proliferate here in Port Franks,” she said. “We don't want to lose those.”

For Grand Bend resident and Lakeshore Coalition group member Melissa Chalmers, electromagnetic sensitivity has defined her recent past.

The former London resident and commercial pilot moved to Grand Bend and had to stop working one year ago because the waves that are emitted from wireless devices, cell phone towers, and her plane's cockpit were making her sick.

But a tower constructed in Grand Bend last year, and now this one, has the 44-year-old running out of options.

“There's more and more people becoming electrosensitive and there's no place for us to go,” she said.

The group wants Health Canada to put rules in place to guard against non-thermal electromagnetic emissions in the country — for which there currently are none, she said.

“If Health Canada doesn't change the limits or acknowledge that people are becoming ill from this technology … then nothing's going to change.”

The Lakeshore Coalition is hoping to meet with Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq and designate Port Franks an electromagnetic radiation reduced area (ERA). Such an area would be the first of its kind in Canada.

“It would preserve our ecosystems and it would allow us a unique opportunity to grow economically,” said Maurizio, 54, noting the tower is dramatically lowering real estate values.

The group also wants a five-year moratorium on the construction of cell towers so Health Canada can study the effects of non-thermal electromagnetic radiation.

“Even if the tower goes live, we'll continue to educate people about the effects of radio frequency electromagnetic radiation,” Maurizio said.

Port Franks grandmother Wendy Hoy walked to Ottawa last year to raise awareness. She was also at Saturday's rally.

Lambton Shores council supports the group and its goals, but has no power to block cell towers, said Coun. John Russell at the demonstration.

“The feds can basically step on us,” he said.

He applauded the group's efforts and encouraged them to continue.

“Legislation does not change because you think it should,” he said. “It changes because you change government or the minds of the MPs.”

Melissa Chalmers was part of a protest against a new cell tower in Port Franks Saturday. The 44-year-old is sensitive to electromagnetic radiation and is part of the Lakeshore Coalition group that wants to make the north Lambton Shores community Canada's first electomagnetic radiation reduced area. TYLER KULA/ THE OBSERVER/ QMI AGENCY